Well sort of… There isn’t anything a purist anyone would call opera in this year’s sex themed Luminato line up but there is one event that might be of interest to opera lovers. There will be three screenings of River of Fundament; a film by artist Matthew Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler.
On April 11th FAWN Opera is workshopping L’Homme et le Ciel; music by Adam Scime and libretto by Ian Koiter. It’s PWYC and it’s at the Ernest Balmer Studio at 8pm. Partrick Murray conducts, Amanda Smith directs and the singers will be Giovanni Spanu, Larissa Koniuk and Adanya Dunn. I wish I could go but I can’t.
On the 26th at 8pm the Aradia Ensemble, conductor Kevin Mallon, will be joined by Claire de Sévigné and Maria Soulis for a programme of Vivaldi’s sacred music. It’s at St. Anne’s Anglican church on Gladstone Avenue which sounds worth a visit in itself. Apparently there is a Byzantine dome and decoration by members of the Group of 7. Tickets are $35 ($20 seniors).
Here are a couple more upcoming events that readers may be interested in. The Royal Conservatory has a festival of contemporary music from April 21st to May 25th. There are eight concerts in a variety of genres. The most interesting to me is on May 22nd when there is a concert to celebrate R. Murray Schafer’s 80th birthday. The concert will feature four pieces; Quintet for Piano and Strings Shafer himself, played by the ARC Ensemble; a world premiere of The Questioning by Canadian composer Christos Hatzis, written for and played by the Afiara String Quartet, Faster Still, a work by the by Canadian composer Brian Current played by the ARC Ensemble; and the Canadian premiere of Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s Anaïs Nin, a semi-staged work for chamber ensemble, video, and mezzo-soprano, based on the diary entries of Anaïs Nin. Singing the role of Anaïs Nin will be a favourite of mine, Wallis Giunta most recently seen in the COC’s Così fan tutte. More details and tickets available here.
On May 1st at 1pm 96.3 FM are broadcasting Sondra Radvanovsky in recital live from the Zoomerplex. You can catch it on the radio or at www.classical963fm.com. There’s also a draw for free tickets for the recital and the reception before. I believe to enter you need to email name, phone number and email address to classical963fm1031@gmail.com.
Toronto Summer Music will run from July 22 to August 12. There’s a wide variety of programming but the highlights for opera and song fans are as follows:
Sondra Radvanovsky is in concert on Thursday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Koerner Hall. The programme is “favourite Italian opera arias”.. Whether it’s orchestral or piano accompaniment I don’t know.
Christopher Maltman accompanied by Graham Johnson will be at Walter Hall on Wednesday, August 6 at 7:30 p.m.with a programme titled The Soldier: From Severn to Somme which will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. It will include songs by Mahler, Mussorgsky, Butterworth, Ives, Finzi and Poulenc.
On Thursday, August 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Walter Hall, Peter McGillivray and pianist David Louie will join TSO principals Jonathan Crow and Etsuko Kimura (violin), Eric Nowlin (viola), David Hetherington (cello) and Yao Guang Zhai (clarinet) to perform a Viennese programme featuring Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer and Waltzes by Strauss, all in arrangements by Schoenberg and Berg.
The annual TSM Academy Art of Song Recitals will take place on Friday, August 8th (my birthday, send cake) at 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. at Walter Hall. These are the showcase recitals for the 12 young singers who were awarded TSM Academy scholarships and who will have prepared with French baritone François Le Roux and pianist Graham Johnson. Naturally, no programming has yet been announced.
Festival, Weekly and Flex passes ($202 -$592) are on sale as of April 3, 2014. Individual concert tickets ($20 to $99) will be on sale as of April 17, 2014. To purchase festival passes and single tickets visit www.torontosummermusic.com , call 416-408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
According to Schmopera, the line up for 2014/15 for the Voicebox: Opera in Concert season at the Jane Mallett Theatre will be Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve, Weill’s Street Scene, Charpentier’s Louise and the premier of Isis and Osiris by composer Peter-Anthony Togni with a libretto by Sharon Singer, both Canadians. The only one of these I’m at all familiar with is La Vida Breve, which is rather good (DVD review). However there’s plenty of information on Isis and Osiris available here and here. The latter link includes almost 18 minutes of music from the piece.
All in all, as one has come to expect from Voicebox, an interesting line up. More details here as they become available.
The opening weekend of April is almost absurdly rich in opera going opportunities and I’ve already previewed it here. There are updates on the Tapestry/Volcano show Revolutions. This is going to be highly experimental and aims to “test the boundaries of how opera is presented in the 21st century.” by exploring the relationship between physical and musical expression. Marie- Josée Chartier (contemporary dance), stage director Michael Mori, will work with four athletic young opera singers, Neema Bickersteth, Andrea Ludwig, Adrian Kramer and Andrew Love. Unfortunately it’s one night only and I shall be at the opening of Peter Sellars’ production of Handel’s Hercules at the COC. Eric Owens, Alice Coote, Richard Croft, David Daniels and Lucy Crowe are singing and Harry Bicket is in the pit. If that’s not incentive enough the COC is offering a 25% discount if you buy tickets to any two of the three spring operas (the other two are Roberto Devereux and Don Quichotte). Continue reading
There’s going to be a Robert Lepage retrospective at the TIFF Bell Lightbox from March 27th to April 1st. Most of the screenings/events will focus, naturally enough, on Lepage’s output for cinema but there are a couple of showings of interest to opera fans. On Saturday March 29th at noon there’s a showing of his production of Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust first seen in the MetHD series and the following day at 12.30 pm one can see Susan Froemke’s documentary Wagner’s Dream about the making of the Metropolitan Opera Ring cycle. Lepage will be present at both shows.
There’s quite a lot happening before the COC season kicks off again with the opening of Handel’s Hercules on April 5th. Here are some of the highlights including several rarities.
On March 22nd at 7:30pm and 23rd at 3pm the Cantemus Singers are putting on a concert performance of Purcell’s The Fairie Queene at the Church of the Holy Trinity. The cast includes Iris Krizmanic, soprano (Juno); Maria Soulis, soprano (Mopsa); and Michael Pius Taylor, tenor (Phoebus). Tickets are $20; $15(sr/st); $10(child).
There’s a Pasolini retrospective on at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Next Thursday at 6.30pm they are showing his Medea which features one Maria Callas in her only non singing role. Whether that’s a good thing or not probably divides opera lovers but there you go.
No question it’s a good role for her.
There is a plethora (relatively speaking) of contemporary vocal works and opera coming to Toronto in May/June. Lydia has the scoop at Definitely the Opera.
operaramblings 